


Freak

by embulance



Series: A Twist Series [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Gen, I am not sorry, but can stand alone, harry ends up making friends with a snake, might make more later, side-fic for a twist in my story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-28
Updated: 2015-08-28
Packaged: 2018-04-17 16:45:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4674035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/embulance/pseuds/embulance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They tried to beat the freakishness out of him. They couldn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Freak

**Author's Note:**

> A side-fic for A Twist in My Story; this is some snippets of Harry’s day to day life. This isn’t gonna be anything super hardcore or anything but yeah, some pretty shitty stuff will happen.

He was six when he learned his name—and it wasn’t from his family; it was when he finally got to attend school for the first time. He thought that the Dursleys’ were finally warming up to him; he didn’t know that someone had noticed his presence and reported it.

It wasn’t long after that they started making him work the garden; after all, if he was no longer a secret, then they ought to take advantage of it. ~~They didn’t know that he liked doing the garden or they probably would have taken that from him.~~

\---

The sound of feet hitting the pavement and Harry’s breathing was all he could hear. Dudley’s stupid little gang chases after him, and Harry doesn’t dare to look back for fear that he’d trip and they’d catch him. Something heavy hits him in between the shoulders and he stumbles and falls with a strangled shout. He doesn’t want to get hurt, not again, he thinks desperately and then it feels like he’s being squeezed through a tube and then he’s on the roof of the school.

For a moment, all he feels is relief; Dudley’s not gonna be able to get him up here. He’s safe.

Then he looks down, and realizes he’s gonna be in so much trouble.

~~His uncle is gonna kill him.~~

\---

“You ungrateful freak, we took you in; we clothed and fed you and this is how you repay us?” Aunt Petunia shrieks, brandishing a frying pan. “By burning the toast?”

Harry lowers his head, hoping to divert her anger slightly. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to—“

Aunt Petunia snarls, lashing out with the frying pan. Harry ducked, but he wasn’t quite fast enough and it clips him in the side of the head.

He groans, clutching his head.

“Get in your cupboard, boy; there will be nothing to eat to day.”

She doesn’t touch him; she never does.

~~Harry wonders if he’s really so disgusting that he shouldn’t be touched.~~

\---

Uncle Vernon throws the boy in the cupboard roughly. “No meals for three days, boy!”

Harry sits on the mattress and wraps his arms around his knees, hugging himself close.

Not for the first time, he wonders what he did to deserve this.

~~He wonders why he’s such a bad child, because that must be it.~~

\---

“Oi, Potter, you gonna cry? Gonna beg for mummy and daddy to rescue you?” Dudley laughs. Harry thinks the boy’s voice could possibly be the most irritating sound known to man. “Oh, that’s right; you can’t. Cause your parents are dead.”

Harry can’t help himself. “Yeah, well, at least I don’t look like a beached whale.”

A smirk spreads across the blond boy’s face, and Harry knows he made a mistake.

~~He hates himself for it when he’s in the cupboard later.~~

\---

“What did I tell you about that freaky nonsense?”

“Not to do it.”

“So what should I do with you?”

“Put me in my cupboard.”

“And?”

“No meals for three days.”

“That’s right. I guess freaks can learn. Get out of my sight; I don’t want to see your freaky face for at least three days.”

“Yes, Uncle Vernon.”

\---

Harry likes his cupboard. It’s safe; no one can fit in there to hurt him, except Aunt Petunia, who won’t touch him anyways. The spiders make for good companionship; he’s learned to not be fearful of them, since being scared won’t do him any good. He has a few broken toy soldiers that he filched off Dudley when he wasn’t paying attention. He likes them, too. They don’t have anything hurtful to say, but sometimes Harry likes to pretend they’re his friends and that someone actually cares about him.

~~After all, no one will ever _actually_ like a freak like him.~~

\---

He makes a friend for the first time when he’s nine; a small grass snake that calls herself Shishisha. She often coils around his wrist and he hisses softly to her as he works in the garden. He loves her; she is good and kind to him and makes him feel important.

“ _Little hatchling, why do you look so sad?_ ” She asks him one day.

Harry frowns, tugging at a weed. “ _It’s nothing; don’t worry about it._ ”

Shishisha hisses angrily at the boy, as she slides further up his arm. “ _Do not lie to Shishisha; I can always tell when you are hurt, little hatchling, and I can always tell when you lie. Tell Shishisha what is wrong,_ ” she coaxes. “ _You know that I will not judge you. Did the big one hurt you again?_ ”

The boy shakes his head, pulling up another weed. “ _No,_ ” he murmurs to her as she settles on his shoulders. “ _No, not really… it’s just… I hate it here. I want to leave them._ ”

“ _Then go,_ ” Shishisha says in a soft tone. “ _You deserve better than this; you deserve more. My little hatchling, my beloved speaker, you know that I will support you and follow you wherever you may go. So leave. You shouldn’t have to be here anymore. Shishisha will not abandon you. I love you, little hatchling, even if the other ones do not._ ”

Harry nods, a determined look on his face. “ _Yes, this weekend we shall go. Yes. I… don’t deserve this._ ”

“ _That’s right, my little hatchling. You don’t._ ”

~~When Harry found her mangled body a few days later, he wept and wept, but nothing could ever bring her back. Nothing would ever bring back his dearest friend; no amount of tears would fix this.~~

\---

The letters came in overwhelming quantities.

Harry was sure there must be a mistake; ~~after all, who would write to a freak like him?~~

He thinks of Shishisha, who loved him so much and cared for him as best as she could, and knows that she would have encouraged him to get that letter, knows that she would believe someone wanted to speak with him, because to her, she didn’t understand why anyone _wouldn’t_ want to speak to him.

He thinks of Shishisha and smiles.

And then he decides that he has to have one of these letters, no matter the cost.

\---

He can’t get the letters away from the Dursleys.

\---

A few days later, salvation comes in the form of Hagrid, who tells him he’s a wizard.

Harry smiles, and remembers Shishisha, who always told he was special.

“I know.”

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted him to have someone important to him so that he was a bit less insecure. I mean, he's still pretty much gonna doubt himself all the time, but Shishisha provides a foundation for everyone to build off of and help him gain more confidence.


End file.
